USS Gunnel

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

History
United States
BuilderElectric Boat Company, Groton, Connecticut[1]
Laid down21 July 1941[1]
Launched17 May 1942[1]
Sponsored byMrs. Ben Morell
Commissioned20 August 1942[1]
Decommissioned18 May 1946[1]
Stricken1 September 1958[1]
FateSold for scrap, December 1959[1]
General characteristics
Class and type
diesel-electric submarine[3]
Displacement
  • 1,525 long tons (1,549 t) surfaced[3]
  • 2,424 long tons (2,463 t) submerged[3]
Length311 ft 9 in (95.02 m)[3]
Beam27 ft 3 in (8.31 m)[3]
Draft17 ft 0 in (5.18 m) maximum[3]
Propulsion
Speed
  • 21 kn (39 km/h) surfaced[2]
  • 9 kn (17 km/h) submerged[2]
Range11,000 nmi (20,000 km) surfaced at 10 kn (19 km/h)[2]
Endurance
  • 48 hours at 2 kn (4 km/h) submerged[2]
  • 75 days on patrol
Test depth300 ft (90 m)[2]
Complement6 officers, 54 enlisted[2]
Armament

USS Gunnel (SS-253), a

gunnel
.

Construction and commissioning

Gunnel′s

John S. "Jack" McCain, Jr.
in command.

Atlantic patrol

Gunnels first war patrol (19 October – 7 December 1942) covered a passage from the United States to the United Kingdom, during which she participated in

French Morocco, on 6 November 1942, two days before the invasion, and on D-day, 8 November 1942, made infrared signals to guide the approaching fleet to the beachheads. She was off Casablanca, French Morocco, on the morning of 8 November when a United States Army Air Forces P-40 Warhawk fighter mistakenly strafed her, forcing her to crash-dive.[6] At 12:03, an aircraft Gunnel′s crew identified as an American bomber began an attack run against her, forcing her to crash-dive again.[6] Her crew heard an explosion as she passed through a depth of 150 feet (46 m).[6] Gunnel suffered no damage or casualties in either attack.[6]

With her missions accomplished, Gunnel departed the waters off French North Africafor Rosneath, Scotland, on 7 December 1942 to terminate her first patrol. En route home, the drive gears of her HOR engines failed, forcing her to complete the final 1,000 nautical miles (1,900 km; 1,200 mi) on her auxiliary diesel engine, leading to a major overhaul at Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Kittery, Maine.

Pacific patrols

Second and third patrols

Subsequently, assigned to the

gross register tons) on 15 June 1943, giving Gunnel her first kill, and four days later when another cargo ship, Tokiwa Maru (7,000 gross register tons), was sent under. Both sinkings were confirmed by Joint Army–Navy Assessment Committee
(JANAC) postwar.

After overhaul at

Honshū. This, too, was successful; on 4 December 1943 Gunnel sent passenger-cargo ship
Hiyoshi Maru to the bottom.

Fourth, fifth, sixth patrols

The fourth war patrol (5 February – 6 April 1944) took Gunnel from

Darwin, Australia,[7]
she proceeded to Fremantle, where she concluded her patrol on 6 April 1944.

Gunnel′s fifth and sixth patrols, 3 May – 4 July 1944 and 29 July – 22 September 1944, found her again in the southern approaches of the Sunda Strait and cruising in the Sulu Sea-Manila area but failed to add to her score.

Seventh and eighth patrols

During her seventh patrol (21 October – 28 December 1944) in the South China and Sulu Seas, she sank the Torpedo Boat Sagi (600 tons) between 4–8 November;[8] passenger-cargo ship Shunten Maru (5,600 tons); and Torpedo Boat Hiyodori (600 tons) between 10 and 17 November.[9] On this same patrol Gunnel evacuated 11 naval aviators at Palawan 1 to 2 December after the fliers had been protected by friendly guerrilla forces for some 2 months.[10]

She conducted her eighth patrol (13 June – 24 July 1945) in the

B-29s
flying toward Japan on bombing missions.

Postwar

Gunnel was refitting at Pearl Harbor at war's end in August 1945. She was ordered to

Navy List
1 September 1958 and she was sold for scrapping in August 1959.

Honors and awards

  • battle star
  • Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal
    with four battle stars

Gunnel′s first, second, third, and seventh war patrols were designated "successful." In the

gross register tons.[11]

References

Citations

  1. ^
    ISBN 1-55750-263-3
    .
  2. ^ a b c d e f U.S. Submarines Through 1945 pp. 305–311
  3. ^
    ISBN 0-313-26202-0
    .
  4. ^
    ISBN 978-0-313-26202-9
    .
  5. ^ a b c U.S. Submarines Through 1945 pp. 305–311
  6. ^ a b c d Hinman & Campbell, pp. 95–96.
  7. ^ a b Hinman & Campbell, pp. 95–97.
  8. ^ "long Lancers". Combinedfleet.com. Retrieved 25 July 2018.
  9. ^ "long Lancers". Combinedfleet.com. Retrieved 25 July 2018.
  10. ISBN 9780399583551
    .
  11. ^ valoratsea.com

Bibliography

External links
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=USS_Gunnel&oldid=1145148851"